JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Pregnant women are often unaware of potential risks that working conditions can cause to them and their unborn child. A mobile health (mHealth) application, the ‘Pregnancy and Work’ (P&W) app, developed by a multidisciplinary team and based on an evidence-based guideline for occupational physicians, aims to provide advice on work adjustment during pregnancy.

Objective:

This study evaluates the usability of the mHealth P&W app and the perceived usefulness of the ‘work advice’, the main goal of the app, by potential end-users.

Methods:

Twelve working pregnant women participated in Think Aloud (TA) usability sessions and performed nine tasks. All TA sessions were recorded, transcribed, and co-analyzed. The usability problems were rated for their severity in accordance with Nielsen’s severity scale. The completion rates and times of tasks were registered. Additionally, participants were questioned on demographics and user characteristics, and evaluated the value of the app by filling in the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) score and the System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire.

Results:

In total, 82 usability problems with a severity ≥ one were identified, of which 40 had severity ≥ three. The main usability problems concerned the interpretation of terminology used in the app’s questionnaires and difficulties in finding and understanding the work advice. Ten out of 12 participants were able to open the work advice page in the app. Only seven out of these ten participants understood and intended to follow the work advice. The overall mean IMI score was relatively high (five out of seven), indicating that participants did indeed value the use of the app. This IMI score corresponded to the overall mean SUS score (68 out of 100) and the mean grade given to the P&W app (seven out of ten).

Conclusions:

This TA usability study showed that the information provided in the P&W app was considered valuable by the end-users, working pregnant women, and meets their needs, but usability issues severely impacted the perceived usefulness of the work advice given in the app.